In honor of father’s day this weekend, I’d like to dedicate this post to my father who sadly passed away many years ago.  My father loved eating and being the Southern-born Toisanese that he was, his palate ran towards the heavy and greasy.  For those who may wonder if it was his diet that got the best of him, it was actually lung cancer not, heart disease.  I suspect it was genetics, not lifestyle as he was not a smoker and my grandfather also died of cancer.  Perhaps a testament to the importance of enjoying food and living life to its fullest as one just never knows what will happen.  Cheers to dad and his favorite foods…

1. Beef Intestines Stew:  Often served at the most homestyle of dimsums (the ones with the cranky ladies pushing the greasy metal carts, not the fancy hand-served, plated dimsum), beef intestine stew (aka in bad Cantonese romanization – Gnow Jap) was my dad’s favorite.  It would make its dimsum cart appearance as a murky, brown sludge with a mysterious potpourri of innards and be ceremoniously ladled into porcelain bowls.

2.  Geoduck:  In keeping with the chewy, rubbery textural theme is the geoduck which would be often boiled and served with scallions and soy sauce.  Though I found geoduck rather alien in appearance as a child, years later I developed a taste for the briny-flavored sea delicacy.

3. Lobster:   A big, fresh lobster is the staple of any respectable Chinese banquet and for my father who grew up in a poor Toisanese village, lived through the Japanese occupation, and toiled away for years in medical school, biting into a juicy lobster was a sign that he had finally achieved success and could enjoy the fruits of his labor.

4. Steak Sandwiches:  Being a country boy who raised chickens, my dad was not really one for fancy food especially of the western variety.  Moreover, frugality – a true Toisanese trait was such a part of his being that spending hard earned cash on a meal, especially on a no-frills grilled steak seemed like a waste of money to him.  So if my father was craving steak, he would prefer it in sandwich form which was usually half the price of an entree portion.  Moreover, at the local diner where my father would have his steak sandwich, it was usually composed of grilled garlic sourdough bread and mayonnaise that would amplify the steak’s flavor and texture with an extra dose of grease, butter, garlic, and crunchiness from the toasted bread.

5. Pork sausage:  My father loved all kinds of spiced, pork sausage from the Chinese (aka ‘Lop cheung’) to Portuguese (linguisa).  Anything greasy, salty, and porky floated his boat and he would inhale the stuff happily like a Toisanese Homer Simpson.

6.  Kaya on Toast:  A creamy, coconut custard spread, “Kaya” jam was originated in Hainan Island in China then traveled to Singapore and Malaysia where it became the Southeast Asian answer to Nutella – ie: delectable, sweet stuff that gets kids and pretty much anyone to eat their morning toast.  In the summer when my dad was recuperating from lung surgery he would demand I make Kaya on toast for him several times a day.  Despite my sweet tooth, I think I developed an aversion to Kaya as it was always a reminder of those days when my father was angry and frustrated with being incapacitated and Kaya was the only thing that could take his mind off his illness.

7. Mauna Loa Chocolate Macadamia Nuts:  My dad was a fan of all nuts, but particularly when enrobed in chocolate.  I also think that part of his affinity for nuts came from his time in Hong Kong when Mauna Loa Chocolate Macadamia Nuts, See’s Candies Nuts and Chews, and Blue Diamond Smoked Almonds were all delicacies brought back by relatives and friends visiting from the U.S.  Eventually when he settled in California, we would pack our suitcases with these coveted snacks and peddle the stuff back to our Hong Kong-based friends and family.

8. Black Bean Spiced Tripe:  The black bean spiced tripe – yet another riff on the innard dim sum experience.  As you can see, my father like most old school Chinese had a genetic predisposition to all things that were crunchy and could collect as much delectable spice and grease per bite.  Leave it to the Chinese to appreciate the wonders of cilia lined intestinal walls to maximize flavor.